Local retailers say better-than-expected revenue is a holiday gift
When retailers across the country release their official holiday shopping reports in January, Southwest Washington isn’t likely to see the same jump in spending that the rest of the nation – or even the rest of the state – is poised to. However, that doesn’t mean the region’s holiday shopping season will go down in history as a dud; far from it according to local retailers.
Nationwide, total consumer spending (excluding automobiles) rose 5.5 percent from November 5th through December 24th, compared with the same 50-day period a year ago, according to post-Christmas data released by MasterCard Advisors’ SpendingPulse.
While Southwest Washington isn’t likely to match that pace (due, in part, to its proximity to sales tax-free Oregon), area reports have largely been positive.
Nicole Leslie, owner of Old Town Antique Shop on Main Street in Vancouver, is just one of a handful of local retailers reporting a sizable uptick in holiday sales compared to the previous two years. That’s a huge step in the right direction according to Jan Teague, president and CEO of the Washington Retail Association.
“When you think about the holiday shopping season, I think it’s as strong as we could hope for given the unemployment rate and slow recovery of the economy,” said Teague. “It’s much better than last year.”
According to Teague, many of the usual suspects (electronics retailers, toy stores and apparel outlets) enjoyed success throughout the holidays in Washington. One of those retailers was Costco, which opened a new store the day before Thanksgiving off of Southeast 192nd Avenue in Camas.
“Obviously for a brand new building we never expect to have as much volume as an existing building that’s been in the market,” said Ben Tehrani, warehouse manager at the new Costco location. “But overall, we had a very good holiday season. Our percentage of sales in electronics was higher than anticipated, and based on our budget, we were accepted very warmly into the community.”
In addition to having a pleasant holiday season, Tehrani said the 192nd Avenue Costco will be hanging on to a significant number of its seasonal hires – something that should help Clark County’s high unemployment rate.
From new jobs to new revenue, the region’s retail success might have been a different story this holiday season had Mother Nature not been so kind.
“If we would have had some really bad snows than I think we would have missed our numbers,” said Teague. “But the weather has held up pretty good for us and it hasn’t kept people from shopping. I think this year is as good as we could expect.”
Now, Teague explained, the looming question is whether retailers can carry over the success of the 2010 holiday shopping season into 2011 and beyond. She also said the ability of state and local governments to manage their budgets will have a major influence on everyone’s economic progress.
“We’re still crawling out of the recession and I do think we’ll continue in that direction,” she said. “But it’s going to take a couple of years to get to the pre-recession levels. As long as major events don’t change and negatively impact the economy, we should see gradual improvement.”
